Fallacies and Pitfalls of Language: The Language Trap

by S. Morris Engel

As S. Morris Engel alerts us in this eye-opening book, we risk falling into potentially harmful language traps every moment. Not just the occasional malapropism or grammatical faux pas, but a more sinister kind — distortions of meaning that would persuade us to believe something that may not be true.
Sometimes these language traps are set for us deliberately by politicians, advertisers, journalists, lawyers or other professional persuaders. Sometimes they are set inadvertently by our friends, our loved ones — even ourselves. This work explains how and why these fallacies work, and how we may suffer the consequences when they do.
Day after day we listen to government newspeak (our troops are called "peace-keeping forces"), exaggerated advertising claims from "leading authorities," twisted logic and misleading propaganda. We are treated to more and more euphemisms (slums are called "substandard housing"; dogcatchers, "animal welfare officers"). We encounter innumerable ambiguities ("I wish you all the good fortune you deserve") — and indulge in a few ourselves. The author wittily explores this verbal minefield, and tells us how to spot a language trap and how to avoid falling in.
The book is not only a useful manual of verbal self-defense, it's an engrossing study of the nature of language and the subtle ways in which it operates. It will intrigue anyone interested in words, language, and the dynamics of modern culture.

Genres: Psychology, Writing, Nonfiction, Language

206 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1994

Reviews

[Katherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

An illuminating exposition of the argument that language is not "solely the instrument of thought" but rather "what makes thought possible in the first place", especially in regards to arguments and persuasion. With reference to fields such as sociolinguistics, logic, and psychology, Engel has convinced me to become much more aware of society's verbal minefield, and the ways in which those mine are planted daily by myself and others, unwittingly or not.

[Jeffrey Green · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although published in 1994, the message of this book remains relevant: one should be aware of the way people in power and people who want to sell you things use language in a manipulative and illogical way. Engel's style is a ponderous, but he offers excellent analyses of fallacious modes of speech, in the belief that if you see how you're being distracted from the truth, you'll resist bad arguments. Someone ought to bring out a revised edition with up to date examples and reference to social media. Engel clearly tried to be even-handed, finding examples of manipulative language on both the left and the right. I'd rather see a full-throttle attack on rightwing demagoguery. That's where today's threat comes from.

[Thân Trọng · Rating 5 out of 5]

I need to read this book

[Walter Ullon · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is more of a book on persuasion of you ask me, and heavily padded too. Much better ones out there. See Cialdini's "Influence" and even better, Aronson's "Age of Propaganda".